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Windows Live Messenger

Stop Displaying an Alert When Receiving New Email

SUMMARY: Tired of being alerted every time you receive an e-mail message while Windows Live Messenger is running? Turn these annoying alerts off!

While using Windows Live Messenger, if you receive e-mail in your Windows Live Hotmail account, an alert sound is played while a visual alert appears above the status bar area of the Taskbar.

While many people appreciate these alerts, if you receive a lot of e-mail and don't want to be bothered by these notifications while you are using Messenger, they can be disabled:

1. Either click the "Options" link when the alert appears, or access the Live Messenger alert options. To do so:

From a Windows Live Messenger window, click the "Show Menu" button, selecting "Tools" - "Options" (see the below screenshot).

Accessing Windows Live Messenger options

Then when the "Options" dialog box appears, click "Alerts" in the left pane.

2. Uncheck "Display alerts when e-mail is received".

3. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

This tip was written for Windows Live Messenger Version 2009 running on a netbook with Windows XP Home. Features, instructions, and screenshots for other versions / operating systems may vary.